diff --git a/dummyserver/handlers.py b/dummyserver/handlers.py
index fb6f44ff1e..759832962f 100644
--- a/dummyserver/handlers.py
+++ b/dummyserver/handlers.py
@@ -246,6 +246,11 @@ def nbytes(self, request):
             data,
             headers=[('Content-Type', 'application/octet-stream')])
 
+    def status(self, request):
+        status = request.params.get("status", "200 OK")
+
+        return Response(status=status)
+
     def shutdown(self, request):
         sys.exit()
 
diff --git a/test/with_dummyserver/test_poolmanager.py b/test/with_dummyserver/test_poolmanager.py
index 4065ff8bab..1be2a20cc5 100644
--- a/test/with_dummyserver/test_poolmanager.py
+++ b/test/with_dummyserver/test_poolmanager.py
@@ -109,6 +109,34 @@ def test_raise_on_redirect(self):
 
         self.assertEqual(r.status, 303)
 
+    def test_raise_on_status(self):
+        http = PoolManager()
+
+        try:
+            # the default is to raise
+            r = http.request('GET', '%s/status' % self.base_url,
+                             fields={'status': '500 Internal Server Error'},
+                             retries=Retry(total=1, status_forcelist=range(500, 600)))
+            self.fail("Failed to raise MaxRetryError exception, returned %r" % r.status)
+        except MaxRetryError:
+            pass
+
+        try:
+            # raise explicitly
+            r = http.request('GET', '%s/status' % self.base_url,
+                             fields={'status': '500 Internal Server Error'},
+                             retries=Retry(total=1, status_forcelist=range(500, 600), raise_on_status=True))
+            self.fail("Failed to raise MaxRetryError exception, returned %r" % r.status)
+        except MaxRetryError:
+            pass
+
+        # don't raise
+        r = http.request('GET', '%s/status' % self.base_url,
+                         fields={'status': '500 Internal Server Error'},
+                         retries=Retry(total=1, status_forcelist=range(500, 600), raise_on_status=False))
+
+        self.assertEqual(r.status, 500)
+
     def test_missing_port(self):
         # Can a URL that lacks an explicit port like ':80' succeed, or
         # will all such URLs fail with an error?
diff --git a/urllib3/connectionpool.py b/urllib3/connectionpool.py
index 01afd61697..37048763b3 100644
--- a/urllib3/connectionpool.py
+++ b/urllib3/connectionpool.py
@@ -653,7 +653,15 @@ def urlopen(self, method, url, body=None, headers=None, retries=None,
 
         # Check if we should retry the HTTP response.
         if retries.is_forced_retry(method, status_code=response.status):
-            retries = retries.increment(method, url, response=response, _pool=self)
+            try:
+                retries = retries.increment(method, url, response=response, _pool=self)
+            except MaxRetryError:
+                if retries.raise_on_status:
+                    # Release the connection for this response, since we're not
+                    # returning it to be released manually.
+                    response.release_conn()
+                    raise
+                return response
             retries.sleep()
             log.info("Forced retry: %s", url)
             return self.urlopen(
diff --git a/urllib3/util/retry.py b/urllib3/util/retry.py
index 862174abba..2d3aa20d0a 100644
--- a/urllib3/util/retry.py
+++ b/urllib3/util/retry.py
@@ -102,6 +102,11 @@ class Retry(object):
     :param bool raise_on_redirect: Whether, if the number of redirects is
         exhausted, to raise a MaxRetryError, or to return a response with a
         response code in the 3xx range.
+
+    :param bool raise_on_status: Similar meaning to ``raise_on_redirect``:
+        whether we should raise an exception, or return a response,
+        if status falls in ``status_forcelist`` range and retries have
+        been exhausted.
     """
 
     DEFAULT_METHOD_WHITELIST = frozenset([
@@ -112,7 +117,8 @@ class Retry(object):
 
     def __init__(self, total=10, connect=None, read=None, redirect=None,
                  method_whitelist=DEFAULT_METHOD_WHITELIST, status_forcelist=None,
-                 backoff_factor=0, raise_on_redirect=True, _observed_errors=0):
+                 backoff_factor=0, raise_on_redirect=True, raise_on_status=True,
+                 _observed_errors=0):
 
         self.total = total
         self.connect = connect
@@ -127,6 +133,7 @@ def __init__(self, total=10, connect=None, read=None, redirect=None,
         self.method_whitelist = method_whitelist
         self.backoff_factor = backoff_factor
         self.raise_on_redirect = raise_on_redirect
+        self.raise_on_status = raise_on_status
         self._observed_errors = _observed_errors  # TODO: use .history instead?
 
     def new(self, **kw):
@@ -137,6 +144,7 @@ def new(self, **kw):
             status_forcelist=self.status_forcelist,
             backoff_factor=self.backoff_factor,
             raise_on_redirect=self.raise_on_redirect,
+            raise_on_status=self.raise_on_status,
             _observed_errors=self._observed_errors,
         )
         params.update(kw)